Why did I volunteer to give some talks to our local Historical Society?

That means a lot of work gathering materials, writing and timing my presentation, and on the only evenings of the week when I'm putting grandchildren to bed. I'll be dashing out as soon as the grandson is in bed, trying to find a parking space close enough...

Why did I do it?

Like most things I do. Because no one else would. The rest have more sense.

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If it pleases Him to have me kneel before Him, i will kneel reverently.
If it pleases Him to bind me, i will gladly offer my arms to Him.
If it pleases Him to touch me, i will allow myself to be touched.
If it pleases Him to teach me, i will learn all i can.
If it pleases Him to discipline me, i will accept it with out a sound.
It it pleases Him to allow me to serve Him, i will serve Him with loyalty and devotion.

she thought herself wicked, until she became a little girl with dolls on the floor of the Devil's dark lair.

Perhaps all the dragons in our lives are princesses who are only waiting to see us act, just once, with beauty and courage. Perhaps everything that frightens us is, in its deepest essence, is something helpless that wants our love.

It has been a long saga, and no, the UK's National Health Service wasn't involved. These are private teeth, paid for by me.

But it has been a experience. My first replacements were made locally, but the skilled and trusted dental technician had just moved to London and my teeth were made by his former assistant who was incompetent. They didn't fit even with half a tube of dental fixative.

Three attempts later my dentist gave up on the local company, and following a recommendation from a local competitor, went to a company based in Mainland China. The transit times would have shamed a sailing ship captain. It took eighteen months from first impressions to a completed set but in the meantime the geometry of my jawbone had changed, so they didn't really fit either.

I gave up for a couple of years, surviving with the remains of my own teeth. I had lost some and damaged many playing contact sports in my youth, and the repairs done in various countries had begun to fail.

But I and my dentist tried again with a new local technician. His first attempt might have been acceptable but they were off-centre. He had misread the impression.

Today, success! I have a complete set of upper and lower teeth that fit with no adhesive at all.

But - I have to learn to talk again. My tongue and lips aren't used to having so many teeth. Sibiliant Ss are difficult without lisping or a faint whistle. My dentist tells me I have to practice, and I should be competent and confident again in two or three weeks time.

So I'm wandering around the house saying "She sells seashells by the seashore". <- look! Teeth!

Does this mean that if they had arrived promptly, and fit well, you would have had to replace them after eighteen months? Will you have to replace your current set eighteen months from now?

No. It was BECAUSE I didn't have them, and wasn't wearing any, that my jawline changed. The muscles in my mouth had altered. False teeth are fitted to the musculature. Once I had lost teeth, the jawbone adapted to fill the holes left by the roots. They are subtle changes but enough to make the difference between a new set fitting or not.

But at my age I shouldn't expect a set of teeth to fit for more than 5-7 years before needing to replace them. If I am fortunate, I might get 10 years wear, or it might be possible to adapt the current ones to match the slight changes.

My father wore his last pair for thirty years. We tried to persuade him to get new ones, but like his favourite old worn-in shoes, he didn't want to change.